Southwest Airlines last week said it will add six daily flights to three new destinations from John Wayne Airport beginning June 10. The flights include three nonstops to Phoenix and two to Las Vegas, as well as a one-stop flight to Nashville, a market not currently served from Orange County.
The move will bring Southwest’s total flights from John Wayne to 21 and put it in direct competition with America West Airlines on the Phoenix and Las Vegas routes. America West has had the only nonstop service to those two cities, with about 10 daily flights to each. Southwest also has eight daily flights to Oakland and seven to San Jose.
Nationwide studies have shown that competition from low-fare carriers like Southwest keeps fares down in the nation’s air markets, suggesting that the new service might result in lower fares for the Las Vegas and Phoenix markets.
Last week, 14-day advance fares to Las Vegas ranged from $166.50 to $233; to Phoenix the range was $166 to $383. Southwest said that its seven-day advance fares to Phoenix and Las Vegas will start at $92 roundtrip; same-day fares will start at $172 roundtrip. Nashville, however, will be pricier, with roundtrip advance fares starting at $408 and walk-up roundtrip fares at $640. But even from LAX, where fares are often lower than JWA’s, 14-day advance purchase fares to Nashville ranged from $229 to $449 roundtrip last week.
A Southwest spokeswoman said the stop on the Nashville route had not yet been determined, but could be either Phoenix or Las Vegas.
Phoenix-based Southwest Airlines has coveted expanded service at John Wayne since it first entered the market here in 1994. But allocation of flight “slots” is a complex process at John Wayne that involves the county supervisors, because of noise and passenger-count restrictions. Those allocations are reviewed yearly, usually in March. But last month county supervisors voted provisionally to allow Aloha Airlines to begin daily service to Hawaii from John Wayne, contingent upon moving cargo flights operated by UPS and Federal Express to El Toro, a politically charged move that has not yet been finalized. At the same meeting on Feb. 6, the supervisors voted to grant Southwest additional departures for Class E planes, the designation for the quietest aircraft operated at the airport.
Other airlines still on the waiting list for space at John Wayne include West Coast Airlines, a regional carrier based in Concord; Frontier Airlines, People Airways, Air Canada, Horizon Air and American Trans Air. n
